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Why Benjamin Netanyahu Must Go to Poland
People with Israeli flags attend the International March of the Living at the former Auschwitz Nazi German death camp, in Brzezinka near Oswiecim, Poland, May 6, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Kuba Stezycki
Imagine the scene: dignitaries from around the globe gather at the site of Auschwitz Concentration Camp to commemorate the 80th anniversary of its liberation. It’s a solemn event marking the end of one of history’s darkest chapters. Yet, conspicuously absent is the Prime Minister of Israel, the nation born from the ashes of the Holocaust.
Sounds crazy, right? Well, that’s precisely what will happen on January 27, 2025, if Poland gets its way. On the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz — the most notorious killing ground of the Holocaust — the Prime Minister of Israel, leader of the nation resurrected from the ashes of that genocide, will be absent.
Not because he refuses to attend but because Poland has threatened to arrest him under a grotesque and politically motivated International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant. So, while Netanyahu — the democratically elected of the world’s only Jewish state — is deliberately sidelined, leaders from countries that gladly collaborated with the Nazis, or turned away Jewish refugees, or stood idly by as millions were slaughtered, will gather to wring their hands, pose for photos, and make pious speeches. It’s not just surreal; it’s obscene.
Think about it. The leader of Israel — whose very existence is a defiant rebuke to the forces that tried to erase the Jewish people — barred from entering the gates of Auschwitz to honor the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust.
Meanwhile, diplomats from nations complicit in the Holocaust, and others whose modern policies enable rising antisemitism, will sit comfortably in the front rows. And the Jewish state? Silenced and snubbed. This isn’t just absurd — it’s an insult to history, to the victims of the Holocaust, and to every Jew alive today.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, this is not just an affront to you personally — it’s an affront to all Jews, past and present. It is a grotesque humiliation aimed at undermining Israel’s legitimacy and moral authority. It is a slap in the face of every Holocaust survivor who rebuilt their lives in the Jewish state and every descendant of those who perished, whose very existence today stands as a defiant testament to Jewish resilience. Don’t let them get away with it.
The ancient Greeks didn’t get away with it. At the time of the Chanukah story, Antiochus IV Epiphanes — a ruthless tyrant whose family inherited a province of the Greek empire from Alexander the Great — stormed into Jerusalem with military force and desecrated the Holy Temple. He erected idols, installed Greek gods, and ordered the Jews to bow and sacrifice to them. Some Jews complied, hoping that submission might preserve peace.
But Matityahu the High Priest and his sons, led by Judah Maccabee, refused to surrender. They wouldn’t allow humiliation to become the new normal. Outnumbered and outmatched, they stood tall, fought back, and prevailed. Their first act upon reclaiming the Temple was to light the menorah. That flame has burned ever since — a testimony that Jews will not be cowed. Not then. Not now.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, you must be Judah Maccabee — strong, proud, and unafraid. Go to Poland. Stand where millions of our people perished and declare, without hesitation, that the Jewish people are still here, still standing, and will never be silenced again. Dare them to arrest you — dare them to drag the Prime Minister of Israel, the representative of Holocaust survivors and their descendants, into custody, on the very soil that drank their blood.
Let the cameras roll and let the world see the true face of modern antisemitism — the kind that hides behind international law and hollow platitudes. And if they try? Let them face the global outrage that will follow, the fury of Jews and non-Jews alike who still have a moral conscience. Go to Auschwitz, Prime Minister Netanyahu, not just as a leader but as a symbol. Show them that we are no longer victims, no longer voiceless. Show them that we are the Maccabees, and we do not bow.
And to those in Washington, D.C., who still understand right from wrong: remember that Israel is not just your closest ally in the Middle East — it’s the only democracy in the region, standing firm and holding the line in an increasingly unstable world.
Every enemy of the West has tried to bring Israel down, but Israel has done what others were too afraid to do. Hamas is crippled. Hezbollah is reeling. Assad’s Syria has collapsed into irrelevance. And the Houthis, along with their Iranian backers, are next. Israel is fighting the battles the West refuses to fight, defending not just itself but the values and security of the free world.
The United States has long opposed the ICC’s outrageous overreach and its obsession with targeting Israel. That opposition must not waver now. This is not just an attack on Israel — it is an attack on the moral foundations of America’s closest ally and, by extension, on America itself.
To allow Benjamin Netanyahu — the elected leader of the Jewish state — to be barred from a Holocaust memorial is to embolden those who seek to delegitimize Israel and the West. Now is the time to act. Diplomatic channels must be mobilized immediately to ensure Netanyahu can attend this memorial unimpeded and unmolested. To do anything less is to send a message that antisemitic agendas dressed up as international law can go unchallenged — and that message must never be sent.
If Netanyahu does not attend, history will record a disgraceful spectacle — the leader of the Jewish state, the only Jewish country in the world, absent from Auschwitz while nations that turned their backs on the Jews, or worse, actively aided their murder, take center stage with sanctimonious speeches and hollow gestures. The optics are not just nauseating — they are a betrayal of memory and truth.
Prime Minister Netanyahu, ignore the threats. Defy the antisemitism masquerading as justice. Show the world that Jews will never again be humiliated — not by violence, not by persecution, and certainly not by the hypocrisy of international institutions hiding behind the veil of legality. Let your presence at Auschwitz declare that the Jewish people have endured, they have survived, they have rebuilt — and they will never be erased.
Light the menorah. Be Judah Maccabee — bold, unyielding, and fearless. The Jewish people — and history — demand nothing less.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post Why Benjamin Netanyahu Must Go to Poland first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Confirms Death of Terror Chief Mohammed Deif Months After Israeli Strike
Picture said to show leader of Hamas’s military wing, known as Al-Qassam Brigades, Mohammed Deif in a location given as Gaza Strip in this handout picture released on Jan. 7, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas officially confirmed on Thursday that its military chief, Mohammed Deif, was killed during the Gaza war, almost six months after the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) reported his death.
Deif, the architect of Hamas’s military capabilities, is believed to have been one of the masterminds behind the terrorist group’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 — which sparked the Gaza war.
Abu Ubaida, a Hamas spokesperson, also reported the deaths of Deif’s deputy, Khan Younis Brigade commander Rafa Salama, as well as senior operatives Marwan Issa, Ghazi Abu Tama’a, Raad Thabet, Ahmed Ghandour, and Ayman Nofal.
According to the IDF, Deif was killed in an airstrike in Khan Younis in southern Gaza on July 13 of last year.
Following weeks of intelligence assessments, Israeli authorities gathered evidence to confirm Deif’s death before publicly announcing it in early August.
“IDF fighter jets struck in the area of Khan Yunis, and … it can be confirmed that Mohammed Deif was eliminated in the strike,” the military said. “His elimination serves the objectives of the war and demonstrates Israel’s ability to carry out targeted strikes with precision.”
At the time, Hamas neither confirmed nor denied Deif’s death, but one official, Ezzat Rashaq, stated that any announcements regarding the deaths of its leaders would be made solely by the organization.
“Unless either of them [the Hamas political and military leadership] announces it, no news published in the media or by any other parties can be confirmed,” Rashaq said.
In November, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Deif, as well as for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel and the ensuing war in Gaza.
Deif is believed to have collaborated closely with the late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, managing military operations and coordinating with the group’s top commanders throughout the conflict.
After Deif’s assassination, then-defense minister Gallant posted an image on social media praising the Israeli military’s accomplishment.
“The assassination of mass murderer Mohammed Deif — ‘Gaza’s Bin Laden’ — is a major step toward dismantling Hamas as a military and governing entity, and achieving the war’s objectives,” he said.
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‘A Bad but Necessary Deal’: Five Members of His Family Were Murdered — Today, Their Killer Walks Free
Oran Almog, right, addressing the UN Security Council next to Israeli Ambassador to the UN Danny Danon on July 25, 2017. Photo: Screenshot
While the release of three Israeli hostages on Thursday brought relief and elation across Israel, it also triggered a wave of mixed emotions, especially among victims who saw the terrorists responsible for their suffering set free. One of them is Oran Almog, who was just ten years old when a Palestinian terrorist disguised as a pregnant woman blew up the restaurant he was in, killing five members of his family and leaving him blind.
Yet, while Thursday’s release of Sami Jaradat — the mastermind behind the October 2003 massacre of Almog’s family — was a deeply personal blow, the return of hostages remained a necessary step, he said.
“That the terrorist who killed my family will find himself free is deeply painful, heartbreaking even,” he told The Algemeiner. “But at the same time, I know that even today — especially today — I must set aside my personal pain and focus on the significance of this deal. And the significance is clear. We are getting our hostages home, and that is the only thing that matters.”
Almog’s father, Moshe Almog, his younger brother, Tomer, his grandparents Admiral (res.) Ze’ev and Ruth Almog, and his cousin, Asaf, were murdered when the suicide bomber, Hanadi Jaradat, a 29-year-old lawyer from Jenin, managed to get past the security guard of the Maxim restaurant — jointly owned by a Jewish Israeli and an Arab Israeli — and blow herself up. Sixteen other people were also murdered in the attack, among them four children. Almog lost his eyesight, and his mother, sister, and aunt were among the 60 injured Israelis.
“Sami Jaradat’s continued imprisonment will never bring my family back, but his release can bring the hostages back home alive,” Almog explained.
Emotional meeting between Agam Berger and her family at Beilinson Hospital in Israel. Photo: Haim Zach (GPO)
Almog knows firsthand what it means to be on the receiving end of a hostage-prisoner exchange.
Just two weeks after marking the 20th anniversary of the Maxim restaurant attack, another tragedy struck his family. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists brutally murdered Nadav and Yam and abducted Chen, Agam, Gal, and Tal from the Almog-Goldstein family in Kfar Azza.
Fifty-one days later, in November 2023, they were released from Hamas captivity in a temporary ceasefire deal.
Under the current ceasefire agreement reached earlier this month, Hamas will release a total 33 Israeli hostages, eight of whom are deceased, according to the terrorist group. In exchange, Israel will free over 1,900 Palestinian prisoners, many of whom were serving multiple life sentences on terrorism offenses. Thursday saw the release of three Israelis — including IDF surveillance soldier Agam Berger, 20, and civilians Arbel Yehoud, 29, and Gadi Mozes, 80 — and five Thai nationals, who were working in Israeli kibbutzim when they were abducted.
“This is a bad deal, very bad, but the alternative is that much worse,” Almog said. “We must look ahead, put today aside, and recognize that releasing prisoners serves a greater purpose.”
However, Almog expressed hope that Israel would move toward a more decisive and uncompromising approach in its fight against terrorism.
“I sincerely hope that as a country, we will have the wisdom to decisively thwart terrorism,” he said, emphasizing the need to break free from the ongoing cycle of prisoner exchanges.
“I don’t want us to find ourselves trapped in a cycle of releasing terrorists, only for them to return to terror, and then repeat the process again and again,” he added.
Almog has previously addressed the UN Security Council, urging action against the so-called “pay-for-slay” scheme, in which terrorists and their families receive monthly stipends from the Palestinian Authority. The terrorist behind the murder of Almog’s family received $3,000 a month while behind bars, making him almost a millionaire by the time of his release.
Still, Almog concluded with a deeply uplifting message for the returning hostages, confident that they would have a chance at a good life, drawing from his own experiences since the terror attack.
Oran Almog. Photo: Facebook
After his release from the hospital, he began a long rehabilitation process, culminating in third place at the World Blind Sailing Championship with Etgarim, a nonprofit founded by disabled veterans and rehabilitation experts, and supported by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ). He was chosen to light a torch at Israel’s Independence Day ceremony marking the 60th anniversary of the state and, despite his disability, insisted on enlisting in the IDF, serving in an elite unit. Today, he is a managing partner at a financial technology fund, works with Etgarim, and shares his story globally through lectures.
“I know the hostages will be able to return, to live, and to live well. With enough support — and a great deal of willpower — it is truly possible to rebuild life, even after the deepest catastrophes,” he said.
The post ‘A Bad but Necessary Deal’: Five Members of His Family Were Murdered — Today, Their Killer Walks Free first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Pro-Israel Lawmaker Randy Fine Wins Florida GOP Primary, Favorite to Replace Trump Adviser Mike Waltz in Congress
Florida state Sen. Randy Fine. Photo: Reuters
Florida state Sen. Randy Fine emerged victorious on Tuesday in the Republican primary election for the Sunshine State’s 6th Congressional District in the US Congress, making the firebrand conservative the overwhelming favorite to secure the highly-coveted seat to replace now-former Rep. Mike Waltz.
The congressional seat became vacant after Waltz stepped down to become the national security adviser for US President Donald Trump in the White House. Waltz had managed to secure reelection in November with 66 percent of the vote.
Fine, who is Jewish, has established himself as a stalwart ally of Israel. In the year following the Hamas-led slaughter of 1,200 people and kidnapping of 251 hostages during a cross-border invasion into southern Israel, Fine has spearheaded efforts to uproot antisemitism within the state of Florida.
In August 2024, he chided Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) for taking a trip to Ireland, repudiating the country as “antisemitic.”
“I was certainly disappointed to see not only folks go to what is clearly an antisemitic country that supports Muslim terror, but I was also disappointed that the game wasn’t cancelled, which it should have been,” Fine said.
Ireland has been a fierce critic of Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, even joining a legal case brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice accusing the Jewish state of genocide in Hamas-ruled Gaza. The move, which came after the Irish government in May officially recognized a Palestinian state, led Israel to shutter its embassy in Dublin.
In August 2024, Fine launched an investigation into alleged antisemitic and pro-terrorist ideology within instructional materials at Florida public universities. Fine suggested that activist professors were using textbooks that were indoctrinating students with anti-Israel sentiment.
“When we learned that Florida universities were using a factually inaccurate, openly antisemitic textbook, we realized there was a problem that had to be addressed,” Fine said.
Following the New Year’s Day ISIS-inspired terrorist attack in New Orleans, Fine raised eyebrows by repudiating Islam as a “fundamentally broken and dangerous culture.”
“Muslim terror has attacked the United States — again. The blood is on the hands of those who refuse to acknowledge the worldwide #MuslimProblem. It is high time to deal with this fundamentally broken and dangerous culture,” Fine posted on X/Twitter.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the foremost pro-Israel lobbying group in the US congratulated Fine for his primary victory on Tuesday.
“We are proud to support pro-Israel candidates who help strengthen and expand the US-Israel relationship. Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics,” AIPAC, which endorsed Fine, posted on social media.
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), an organization that attempts to forge closer ties between the Jewish community and the Republican Party, touted Fine’s vigorous crusade against antisemitism within the Florida state legislature.
“Randy Fine is a warrior for his constituents and has served for years in the Florida legislature with distinction,” RJC wrote on X/Twitter. “Randy Fine will be a fierce advocate for the Jewish community in the House of Representatives. Importantly, he has led the fight and been the loudest voice against the rise of antisemitism in Florida and across the country.”
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